Self-driving cars are mostly meant to be used in major cities, not in the village of Bumfuck with population of 69. Also, it doesn't have to be a terrorist, just your friendly local hacker who decided to play BeamNG in real life by hacking a semi and sending it into a skid on a local motorway during rush hour. Their own car can be tracked to its owner and a self-driving car with no driver (why would they need driver in a remotely controlled car?) would attract attention.
And they'd probably get "don't anybody ever try it" sentences. --- Post updated --- I'd guess an average pre-war gearhead would be angry at you for being unable to drive a Model T. Does it mean the average car needs to have a weird planetary transmission, manual choke and manual ignition adjustment?
Also, one thing - we've already had cars with at least some ability of being hacked and driven remotely for about 5-7 years. If they are so easy to hack, and so practical for terrorists, tell me, how many of the terrorist attacks in that period involved hacking cars? And how many crashes were caused by the car being hacked?
Except in the past, I could've probably counted the amount of cars with that abillity on my hands (Possibly having to use my feet too, but whatever). Also, those cars were fairly expensive. Now most new cars come with some sort of autonomus feature, and are alot cheaper. Combine that with people trying to completly phase out older cars, and they'll soon be the only cars on the road. If I went outside now in search of a car with some sort of self driving, I'd probably be looking for awhile, and will probably fail. If I do the same in 5-10 years, I imagine my search would be much, much easier
Jesus, VW, if you think spitting out an autonomous blob will make people like you, think again. At least the VW bus was a human-operable blob, and a damn fine one at that. This... ugghhh... Looks like a snail that got stepped on.
Most luxury cars would be able to be remotely driven, and the cities where terrorist attacks happen have quite a lot of luxury cars. So, what did the terrorists use in their attacks? A hacked Model S? A hacked S-class? No. Rental trucks, vans and pickups.
Well once cars go electric I guess hippies would like cars because then they are not murdering their polar bears. Electric car technology is getting better, and it is cheaper charging your car then it is to pay for gas. The only thing is, it will be a hard to switch from gas to electric, so I guess things will stay the same for a while at least. Also I guess soon all BMW models except the sport models would probably be hybrids. Ya know, because they are trying to have less emissions.
Eventually someone will develop a car that allows people to survive crashes at a 99.9% survival rate using a very specific styling and the styling that is used will basically cause all cars to look almost completely identical. I mean, think about it, a lot of new cars have a certain "look" to them that highlights a delicate balance between safety, aerodynamics, reliability, but yet they all have a certain "appearance" about them. Take these two, for example. A 2018 Honda Accord and a 2018 Toyota Camry: They are very similar. Don't even get me started on Crossovers, because they all look like a clone of one "base" with a couple different pieces added on. "Unique" cars aren't really a thing anymore because the styling that went along with being "unique" also wasn't safe or reliable. Some may argue that old cars were similar too, but that was mostly because back then car manufacturers really didn't know what limits they could push with the technology they had (especially around the 20s and 30s). Cars nowadays aren't really limited by technology, but by "safety." And the occasional attempt by modern car manufacturers to push "styling" was either rejected because they were deemed "ugly and misguided": Or resulted in cars that simply weren't up to the standards of others (in either safety or reliability): So I really think that at some point, car manufacturers will develop a car that is "perfect" in both safety and reliability - but will end up looking similar and losing any semblance of "uniqueness" as a byproduct. Of course that is just a theory. A car theory.
Would the Accord be less safe if the lower half of its gigantic grille was just a piece of body-colored plastic? Would the Camry be less safe if it had shorter headlights? No. But in my eyes, they would look better. Take a look at these cars: Both are designed in the same way, "Jelly Mold", yet both are easily recognisable. Both have similar levels of safety and a slight difference is present certainly not because the Passat lacks a traditional grille and the Vectra has lower-positioned fog lights. In my opinion, the only reason the Fiat 500 is less safe than competitors is because it's a Fiat. I'd say that the only safety category where design matters is pedestrian safety. What really influences the design is the modern way of life. Aggressive competition is everything and "get the f*** out of my way loser" attitude is fashionable. Well, maybe it has been like that for quite a time already, but now, people started to wish their cars looked like that, too. The competition "who can design a more aggressive looking car" is going strong. Maybe someday someone will design a car like this and put an end to it: The other major factor is the ecology craze. Because of this, the manufacturers are lying to us and creating cars that spend 3 times more fuel and pollute 10 times more in real life than during testing. Because of this, the engines in modern cars are tiny and crap. Because of this, modern cars have start-stop rape their engine and ignition. Because of this, modern engines' expected lifespan is 120K km. And to top it all off, because of this, modern cars are hideously ugly. "Used bar of soap" shape and tiny ground clearance minimize air drag. Tiny windows and low roof because glass is heavy. Result: horrible design, minimal amount of headroom and crossover craze since conventional cars have lost their last remains of offroading capability.
Why does everyone want their cars to look aggressive? Unless it's just to reflect their driving style...
What's even the deal with the huge nasty-ass front fascias they stick on cars nowadays? Doesn't making the front bigger increase drag?
In the words of Doug DeMuro,"When all cars drive themeselves, and are to be used like a bottle of hand sanatizer, the Porsche Carerra GT will be the pinacle of the automobile."
Actually I can't say that electric cars are that bad. Some Tesla cars are actually quite fast, and very luxurious.
True, I’m not hating on Tesla or anything, but I’d rather have a supercharged mustang or challenger than a Tesla
